Biker395 

About 20 of us got together for a friend's birthday ride. We met in Malibu and headed into the ... ahem ... breezy Santa Monica Mountains.



Up Latigo we go:



Regrouping near the top. It was a little too breezy for some, and they turned back.



How breezy was it? Well, check out what the on-shore winds were like:



But the company was great, as were the views. Here is a view of Zuma Beach, Pacific Coast Highway, Pt. Dume, and in the distance, Palos Verdes Peninsula, all the way across Santa Monica Bay.



We only went about 60 miles, but with all the wind, it felt like 90.

Here's a (too long) video. If you want to see how breezy it was, check it out starting at about 1:00.

John E

Except for 4 years of high school in Huntington Beach, I spent my first 30 years in west Los Angeles, and I have lots of fond memories of cycling in Malibu, Topanga and Tuna (I am still royally peeved that it is now one-way DOWN -- should have been one-way UP or left two-way) Canyons, Rambla Pacifico, Malibu Canyon Rd., etc. I do not think I ever braved the intensity of wind you are showing in your post.

jskash

My ride yesterday was not nearly as beautiful, but it sure was windy. At one point riding into the 27 mph wind, a gust almost stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to shift down the second to lowest gear to keep moving. Fortunately, I had only five miles in that direction left when the wind really started blowing. Many areas of the San Fernando Valley lost power yesterday due to the high winds. I was smarter this morning and took the Orange Line bike path east/west instead of north/south.

Beautiful pictures and great video. How fast were you going? It seem you were passing just about everyone.

lphilpot

Was the first tune a reference to the breeze?

Garfield Cat

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Read more: Bob Dylan - Blowing In The Wind Lyrics | MetroLyrics

John E

I was hoping to hear from The Association on the soundtrack -- "Everyone knows it's Windy." Do you have a map of your route handy?

Have any of you Angelinos ever ridden to the old M*A*S*H set in the hills of Malibu? American TV viewers think the Korean landscape and flora look like those of southern California.

Biker395 

Check this out. The 4 riders that turned back? They saw this on that same ridge. A guy was driving down with his surfboards in the back of his truck, and the wind blew them out of the bed of his truck and down the hill. They caught the result with a photo. Now that's windy.



It still didn't compare with the winds on the FC 508 in 2009. These winds were strong, but totally rideable. The others? They were absurd.

Biker395 

Sure ... here's the route:

Colin's Birthday Ride - Malibu, CA

BlazingPedals

Looks like an awesome ride, with good roads and better scenery. Meanwhile, I'm dealing with snow and ice.

Note that in the video at around 1:30, the trees are being shaken like crazy but the bushes at ground level are barely moving at all. A lowracer would have been riding in calm air!

qcpmsame 

Same here, ahead of the big East Coast storm, that is coming through here dry, thankfully. Steady winds, from the southwest at 25 mph, with gusts to 35 mph. Felt as if I wold come to a stop a few times.

Bill

surfjimc

Wow!
I should have surfed Saturday instead of going riding. If the Santa Anas are blowing off shore when there is a swell, it doesn't get any better. That is about as perfect a wave as you will see here.

Biker395 

You bet!

Don't I know it! I was thinking the same thing. That wave was at County Line, BTW ... the southern end near Bombora.

big john

I have, on the mountain bike. We climbed this long, steep thing called "Bulldog" and we saw Jeeps and other military stuff lying around.
I have also climbed Latigo when the wind was so strong we could not hear each other, even screaming. In those days we used to go to the Rock Store and when we got there two motorcyclists were talking about what a difficult ride they had. We didn't tell them we had done the same route as they did.

Biker395 

I live in the South Bay, and the winds were actually very calm there. The Santa Annas often come screeching to a stop when they get to the Pacific. Common sense would have had me riding closer to home, but you know how uncommon common sense is.

I think the reason it looks like I'm riding so fast there is I stopped to take a several pictures (or pictures of people as they passed) and had to hoof it to catch up. The really fast riders in our group were in front of us the whole time, so I don't even have pictures of them!

Rick@OCRR

We rode the lower half of the Camino Real course on Saturday and while the winds weren't bad heading south, they became wonderful tail-winds on Old Hwy 395 and pretty much all the way back, 102 miles for me. I rode with Isabelle Drake and she rode from home so ended with a double metric. Good to see her back on the bike!

On Sunday we rode from Glendora to Mt. Baldy Village and hit some horrible headwinds after the 17 miles summit and pretty much all the way (on and off) to Mt. Baldy Village. Brutal headwind from Cow Canyon Saddle down to the Village . . . but; an intense tail-wind on the way back up that climb after a refuel stop for cinnamon rolls and coffee!

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

it was breezy over here on Saturday too; not so bad yesterday

az_cyclist

and great pics, as usual, Biker395

Pamestique 

This is so weird about the wind... Saturday I rode all around Palos Verde... just a light breeze time and again, but no wind.

Yesterday I rode Chino Hills... winds were sporatic... barely at all and then gusting... sortof don't get it...

I just recently rode out at Malibu State Park out to the MASH site and beyond. It's very interesting; sortof out in nowhere. We rode up Bulldog out the back of the Park. That's an interesting area.

And not surprising many places look like Southern CA. Have you ever watched the Vuelta... half the time it looks like they are riding out in Riverside or San Bernardino... but yes I get you meant that people think what's on TV is for real...

BlazingPedals

WHAT??? You mean they didn't film that in Korea??? I'm shocked!